ⓒ 2010 WATV

It is said that anyone can get three chances during his life. It would be great if we can take all the chances, but there is a significant chance we must never miss—that is a God-given chance. It must be a great blessing in our life. This summer was the “chance” for us—the opportunity for these unfilial sons to repay Heavenly Mother for Her boundless love even a little bit, for we used to bring Mother more anxiety than joy while walking the path of faith for over a decade.

We are six male adult members who work at the same company. Every employee of our company is given a long summer vacation every five years. This past summer, the vacation was scheduled. Since we hadn’t made a remarkable achievement in the gospel, through which we could please Mother, we wanted to spend our summer vacation this year for the gospel—the work of God. So we prepared for a short-term mission trip from last year, putting our minds together.

After choosing Mexico as the destination of our mission trip, we prayed with one mind that everything we planned would be accomplished by the grace of God. Every day, after all the employees went back home, we gathered together in an empty office room to study the Bible and the Spanish language as well. By doing that, we prepared for the summer of 2009.

One year flew by fast like an arrow. As the time to leave for Mexico was drawing near, many worries and problems came to us: We needed our families’ consideration, and it was not easy for us to fix the schedule because the start date for our vacation had not yet been confirmed. However, we all had the same thought, ‘This is a golden opportunity,’ and we carried out our plan, praying to God without ceasing.

At last, our vacation was fixed in accordance with our planned schedule; it was truly possible with the help of God. We thanked God for giving us a united mind at the same time and allowing us to walk the blessed path together.

Before we left for Mexico, we had an opportunity to see Heavenly Mother. Mother blessed our weak footsteps for the gospel, regarding them as great, and wished us a gracious vacation. As we delivered our ambitious plan, saying, “We will return with much good fruit,” Mother was very pleased and gave us the blessings of the Holy Spirit abundantly. Worrying about Her children who were going a long way, She asked us to take good care of ourselves.

The moment we felt Mother’s heartfelt concern for us, all our worries and fears faded away and we were assured that there would certainly be gracious results. With an earnest desire to please Mother, we headed for Mexico City, the capital of Mexico.

Mexico City is the world’s second most populated city. Sure enough, the large city was densely packed with houses as we looked down at the city through the airplane window. Even in mountain areas, there were a lot of houses. The horizon is the line in the far distance where the sky seems to meet the land or the sea. In this city, the horizon might be called “housizon.” We gaped at the tremendous number of houses, and at the same time, we regathered our spiritual senses at the thought that there would be as many heavenly family members we should find as there were houses.

When we arrived at the airport, the members from the Mexico City Church were waiting for us. They gave us a warm welcome, and we headed for Zion. On the way to Zion, suddenly my head started to ache; it was a symptom of altitude sickness. Mexico City is the one of the world’s highest cities, which is 2,240 meters [7,349 feet] above sea level; the high atmospheric pressure makes people feel tired easily. Probably because of that, some of us had continuous nosebleeds, and we thought this mission trip would not be easy at all. However, all our worries turned out to be useless as we preached the gospel with the local members of the Mexico City Church. The members’ fervor for the gospel was beyond description.

Even though most of the local members received the truth just about a year ago, they preached the Word with boldness and conviction, always thinking how they could save more souls. It’s difficult to study the Bible systematically here, unlike in Korea. Nevertheless, they grew strong in faith in a short time and put Mother’s love into practice by being considerate of each other and serving one another even in difficult situations, both physically and spiritually. Seeing them, we felt ashamed of ourselves, thinking that we were still immature even though we had walked the path of faith for a long time. We renewed our determination which had temporarily weakened because of our new surroundings, and headed for Iztapalapa, the destination of our short-term mission trip, together with the members of the Mexico City Church, being united in mind.

In Iztapalapa, the gospel started to be preached from last year, and there were about 70 members who attended worship services. Above all else, they needed many gospel workers. After setting a goal to find the children of heaven here—the workers of the new covenant—who would fully realize God Elohim, we started to preach the gospel.

Even though we studied Spanish for a year, it was still insufficient for us to preach the Word in Spanish. Although we were not good at speaking the language, we earnestly wanted to preach Heavenly Mother fully and joyfully. So we were united in mind with the local members and took our gospel steps delightfully. As we preached the new covenant always with a smile even in the situation when we could do nothing but just read the preaching materials in Spanish, we were filled with excitement and joy while preaching.

On the first day of our mission trip, God allowed us to lead many souls. As we bore much fruit day after day, we gave thanks to God over and over again. However, there were also hindrances to the work of the Holy Spirit.

Iztapalapa is the largest region in Mexico City; there are numerous people and many kinds of religious organizations as well. As we preached the gospel without rest, they slandered us with all kinds of lies in order to prevent people from listening to the new covenant. They even confused the souls who had already received the blessing of a new life. While doing the work of saving souls, we also had to resist the hindrances from the evil ones at the same time; spiritually, Iztapalapa was like a battlefield. However, since Father and Mother were with us, we were afraid of nothing. Rather, the fire of the Holy Spirit was burning hotter in our hearts, and we were strongly determined to preach the gospel more fervently.

Indeed, our God is the God of victory: Despite constant obstacles, many souls listened to the good news of the new covenant and came into Mother’s arms. They longed for God’s word and kept studying the Bible. While doing so, they grew strong in faith toward Father and Mother and kept the commandments of God faithfully.

Among them, let me tell you the story about Sister Dolores’ family. At first, only her eldest son and his wife showed interest in the Word. However, as we preached the Sabbath and the good news about Heavenly Mother, the rest of her family, who showed no interest in the Bible at first, started to give ear to God’s word and gathered around us one by one. Finally, all of her family knelt down before the true God with gratitude.

Sister Dolores’ family steadily studied the Bible and asked many questions. After finding answers to all the questions that had piled up in their minds until then, they clearly distinguished the truth from falsehood and said, “We will go to the Church of God that follows the Bible, and we will not go to false churches any longer.” We were incredibly overwhelmed to hear that. From that time, all eleven members of her family came to Zion together, so we called her family “familia de once [a family of eleven].”

God’s grace was also delivered to Sister Socorro’s family—“familia de nueve [a family of nine].” Her family members believed in Catholicism, but they became skeptical towards their religion as they saw idolatry and corruption in the church, and they tried to seek the truth. When they learned about the existence of God the Mother, they received the blessing of a new life immediately.

Whenever we visited their home, they prepared food elaborately for us, saying, “We will prepare physical food, so please share spiritual food with us.” They were always grateful to us for letting them know the good news, and said they wanted to go to Korea where Heavenly Mother dwells. We could feel how much they had been yearning for Heavenly Father and Mother and how eagerly they had been waiting for the truth.

In Mexico, people buy drinking water. Water is very important for all people—both the rich and the poor alike. It is the same spiritually; many people in Mexico are thirsting for the words of life from Heavenly Mother. So, countless souls came to Mother, being revived through the water of life.

Hoping that the souls found during our short-term mission trip would grow into seed-bearing fruits, we visited their homes in the afternoon and concentrated our efforts on teaching them the Bible. Without transportation, we usually walked long distances. Iztapalapa is located high above sea level and there are many uphill and downhill roads. So, walking there was like climbing a mountain. Moreover, the sun was so hot that our skin even peeled. We thought about Heavenly Father a lot: ‘How could Father walk a much more difficult and rough path even for 37 years?’

Meanwhile, the souls, whom we visited in difficulties and preached to, started to attend worship services one after another, and praised the Savior in this age. Seeing them, we couldn’t be happier. The service hall was not big enough to hold many souls who came to Zion, so some sat in the yard during worship, but before long, even the yard was filled with the new members. We were happy beyond words; so would our Heavenly Parents be.

With a firm resolution—“Let’s please Mother this day, too!” we walked and walked, preaching the truth boldly, day after day. Although we were slow of speech, hundreds of souls opened the doors of their minds and came to Zion, because God had already prepared everything for us. Experiencing the amazing work of God, we could not help but give thanks to God.

What we deeply realize through this short-term mission experience is that the heavenly children can all become one through preaching the gospel. Before we left for Mexico, the Korean members encouraged us a lot, saying, “We will pray for your short-term mission trip with one mind. We are parts of one body.” Also in Mexico, when we preached the gospel with the Mexican brothers and sisters, we felt that we became one in the love of Father and Mother, even though we had different skin colors and languages, and we were very happy and joyful.

Among the members who joined the short-term mission trip to Iztapalapa, there was Deacon Samuel from the Mexico City Church. It turned out that he took a one-month vacation after hearing the news that the Korean mission team was coming, saying that he wanted to learn many things while staying with the members from the country of Mother. Even in his old age, he was so passionate and enthusiastic in preaching the gospel, just like one of young adults like the dew of the dawn. Sister Ignacia came to Iztapalapa with her ten-year-old granddaughter to serve us meals. We were deeply moved to see the members devoting themselves to the work of God and sharing beautiful love, and we were able to concentrate on preaching the gospel all the more.

On the other hand, through us who were lacking in many ways, God breathed courage into the members of the Iztapalapa Zion. Most members of the Iztapalapa Zion were new members, who didn’t know how to preach and were afraid of preaching. They were very surprised to see us going out and boldly preaching about Mother even though we were not good at Spanish and many people streaming to Zion after listening to what we preached in our poor Spanish. Then they realized that the gospel work is not accomplished with the ability of man, but by the power of Father and Mother, and they started to participate in preaching one after another, shaking off their fear.

ⓒ 2010 WATV

Among them, there was a male adult member who had received the truth half a year ago. When he went out to preach for the first time, he just read the brochure to a person he met. The male adult member was overwhelmed with emotion when he read the brochure to the person, who was also deeply moved as he listened to it and was blessed with a new life right away. The brother gained confidence—‘I can also do it!’ and other members who hesitated to preach until then all arose with the thought—‘Everyone can preach the gospel.’ As all age group members—male adults, female adults, young adults and youth students—tasted the joy and blessing of bearing fruit to the fullest, the Iztapalapa Zion became full of vitality.

While we preached the good news joyfully together with the local members, a month passed quickly. The day before we left, we asked the members to deliver the precious gift of salvation to all people in the vast area, even after we returned to Korea. The members told us not to worry and promised that they would take good care of the souls we had found together. Then they said that their Church would be no more the Iztapalapa Church, but the “Iztapa Nepal” Church. By this they meant that even though it was now a small worship place but it would grow into a big one like the Nepal Church, so that they would glorify God and spread the fragrance of Zion throughout the world.

We pray that all the Churches of God in Mexico including the Iztapalapa Church will grow and mature just as the members wish. Also, we earnestly hope that the world mission will be completed soon and God’s children throughout the world who yearn for Mother will all be reunited in joy.

We spent truly a dream-like vacation. As Mother had prayed for us, it was the happiest time of our life when we were free from all worldly anxieties and fatigue. We wanted to give Mother even a little bit of joy through the mission trip, but instead we received the best gift from Her.

When we came back to Korea, Mother welcomed us with joy. We just did what we should do as Her children, but Mother regarded our small efforts for the gospel as great and complimented us profusely. We felt so sorry toward Mother because we had not even made a small effort to please Mother, although we had known well that parents are greatly touched by the smallest things their children do for them. Now we fully realize what is most pleasing to Mother—what we should do to be truly filial to Mother.

We were unfilial sons who always received from Mother. However, from now on, we will be mature sons of God and give Mother joy by faithfully devoting ourselves to preaching the gospel. Thank You, Mother, and we love You!